Armenia hosts the most delicious festival

The initiators of the barbecue fest promise a better organization next year.

The second barbecue festival was held in Akhtala, Lori region of Armenia, on Sunday, September 12. It was dated to two other events: re-consecration of Surb Mariam Astvatsatsin Church and inauguration of a monument to wedding rings.

PanARMENIAN.Net - The re-consecration, however, did not take place by order of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. The event was for second time postponed, although the church has been functioning for 8 months already under the guidance of Rev. Father Vazgen Ghazaryan.

The other events were held according to the plan.

“We announced inauguration of the monument to wedding rings in January 2010. But we learnt in March that a similar monument was installed in Canada, although the sculpture was made in a futuristic style and it’s hard to guess that it’s wedding rings. Our monument is designed by sculptor Hamlet Matinyan. It shows two bronze wedding rings, big enough for a man to go through. At the crossing of the rings the author placed a pomegranate, as a token of love and fertility. Under them, there is a scorpion and snake, for people to trample the evil while going through,” said Vazgen Khachikyan, head of the State Social Insurance Service at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

People showed keen interest in the monument, standing in a queue to perform the ritual while the tempting smell of barbecue was spreading all over the churchyard. Artists were entertaining the guests with folk music and dances. Dozens of eyes were watching cooks working.

When everything was ready, the cooks served the meat to the jury. Afterwards, it was expected to distribute the rest among the guests. However, those wishing to taste the barbecue were too many and the cooks did not know how to divide the meat.

“It would be better to lay one big table… The problem is that the festival for the second time coincides with other events and we can’t organize everything properly. But we promise a better organization next year,” jury member Grisha Antinyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

The stage was dismounted, guests departed, and the churchyard looked totally white because of the great number of plastic plates, bags and bottles…

“We well clean everything here,” Vazgen Khachikyan assured and kept the promise: the churchyard was cleaned by the next morning.

The winners of the festival will receive certificates during a ceremony in Yerevan. Support of the Armenian Ministry of Economy proves that the festival will become traditional.

Mane Amirjanyan / PanARMENIAN News
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